"original Portia Shakespeare drew from was Porcia Catonis, the wife of the Roman statesman Brutus. She was also compared to the wife of Brutus within the play in Act 1 scene 1 when Bassanio talks to Antonio. The strength of the role of Portia has made it attractive to many notable actresses. Frances Abington, Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Whitlock all played Portia in the 18th century when actresses first started appearing on stage in performances of the play. More recently, the role has been depicted in the cinema and on television by a number of notable actresses such as Maggie"
"Shylock Shylock is a character in William Shakespeare's play ""The Merchant of Venice"" (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the story. Shylock is not a Jewish name. However, some scholars believe it probably derives from the biblical name Shalah, which is (""Shelach"") in Hebrew. Shalah is the grandson of Shem and the father of Eber, biblical progenitor of Hebrew peoples. All the names of Jewish characters in the play derive from minor figures listed in genealogies in the Book of Genesis. It is possible"
"of ""The Merchant of Venice"" to reinforce stereotypes. Productions of the play followed in Lübeck (1938), Berlin (1940), and elsewhere within Nazi-occupied territory. The depiction of Jews in the literature of England and other English-speaking countries throughout the centuries was influenced by the Shylock character and similar stereotypes. With slight variations much of English literature up until the 20th century depicts the Jew as ""a monied, cruel, lecherous, avaricious outsider tolerated only because of his golden hoard"". Patrick Stewart illustrates approaches to the Shylock character on ""Shakespeare Teaching Videos"" Shylock Shylock is a character in William Shakespeare's play ""The Merchant"
"The Merchant (play) The Merchant is a 1976 play in two acts by the English dramatist Arnold Wesker. It is based on William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"", and focus on the Jewish Shylock character, that play's principal antagonist. Wesker began writing the play after seeing a 1973 performance by Laurence Olivier. It premiered in Stockholm in 1976 and was later renamed ""Shylock"". The play was meant to premiere on Broadway in 1977, but the Broadway production was cancelled due to the death of the plays' lead, multiple Tony Award winner Zero Mostel. Wesker had high hopes that the play"
"Smith, Claire Bloom, Sybil Thorndike, Joan Plowright, Caroline John, Lynn Collins, and Gemma Jones. The character of Portia has had a considerable and long-lived cultural impact. Portia (The Merchant of Venice) Portia is the protagonist of William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"". A rich, beautiful, and intelligent heiress of Belmont, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose among three caskets. If he chooses the right casket, he wins Portia's hand in marriage. If he chooses the incorrect casket, he must leave and never seek another woman in"
"The Merchant of Venice (1969 film) The Merchant of Venice is a 1969 drama short film directed by Orson Welles based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. While actually completed, it is frequently cited as an unfinished film, though better described as a partially lost film due to the loss of film elements. Further cast members were Bill Cronshaw, Mauro Bonnani and Nina Palinkas. Bonnani was not a professional actor, but an editor who was then working on Welles's ""Don Quixote"", while Palinkas was the younger sister of Oja Kodar, whose real name was Olga Palinkas. Differing sources"
"Merchant of Venice""), was translated for a production in Denmark and has been staged twice by the original actor, Berner, in Venice. The play focuses on a Jewish actor named Jon Davies, who is featured as Shylock in a production of Shakespeare’s ""The Merchant of Venice"". Jon addresses his audience at a “talk back” session, after the play is closed abruptly due to controversy over the play’s alleged antisemitism. Davies is portrayed both in and out of character, presenting and stripping down the layers between character and actor. In the comedy ""The Merchant of Venice"", the character of Shylock lends"
"The Merchant of Venice (1923 film) The Merchant of Venice (German: Der Kaufmann von Venedig) is a 1923 German silent drama film directed by Peter Paul Felner and starring Werner Krauss, Henny Porten and Harry Liedtke. The film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play ""The Merchant of Venice"". It was released in the United States in 1926 as The Jew of Mestri. The film was made on location in Venice, with scenes and characters added which were not in the original play. This is the surviving copy, being two reels shorter than the German version. The characters in the"
"female betrayal. Even in ""King Lear"", with the absence of a mother in the play, females take on the dominant role over King Lear, the presence threatening “to overwhelm male authority and selfhood."" Adelman’s ""Suffocating Mothers"" goes deeper into her psychoanalysis of Shakespeare’s maternal characters, emphasizing the effects of the image of the corrupt mother and female on the male identity and the masculinity of the characters. In a religious reading of Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice,"" Adelman focuses on Shakespeare's unique representation of the historical conflict between Christianity and Judaism during the time. Shylock is the principal Jewish character"
"of Poetry"". Malone responds that """"Sweet"" is ""pleasing"", ""delightful"", and such is the meaning of ""dulcis"" in Horace."" All references to ""The Merchant of Venice"", unless otherwise specified, are taken from the Folger Shakespeare Library's ""Folger Digital Texts"" edition, edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. Under their referencing system, acts, scenes, and lines are marked in the text, so 2.6.34–40 would be Act 2, Scene 6, lines 34 through 40. Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Jessica is the daughter of Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, in William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" (). In the play, she elopes with Lorenzo,"
"The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice is an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982) to a libretto, based on the Shakespeare play, by John O'Brien. Written between 1968 and 1982, it was first performed in 2013 at the Bregenz Festival. The British premiere was presented by the Welsh National Opera in September 2016. Tchaikowsky, who was based in England after the 1950s, was a great admirer of Shakespeare, and was able to recite large stretches of his works from memory. His compositions include settings of seven of Shakespeare's ""Sonnets"", songs from ""The Tempest"", and incidental music for ""Hamlet""."
"the existence of each from the other. Beatrice's servant, the exceptionally quirky and comical Truffaldino, is the central figure of this play. He is always complaining of an empty stomach, and always trying to satisfy his hunger by eating everything and anything in sight. When the opportunity presents itself to be servant to another master (Florindo, as it happens) he sees the opportunity for an extra dinner. As Truffaldino runs around Venice trying to fill the orders of two masters, he is almost uncovered several times, especially because other characters repeatedly hand him letters, money, etc. and say simply ""this"
"often compared, Shylock and Barabas, are themselves profoundly different. Regardless of whether or not The Merchant of Venice was a direct influence, or merely a product of the contemporaneous society that they both were written in, it is noteworthy that Marlowe and Shakespeare were the only two British playwrights of their time to include a Jewish principal character in one of their plays. At the end of the play, Barabas attempts to murder his erstwhile Turkish allies by tricking them into falling through a trap door into a hot cauldron in a pit. In the end, it is Barabas who"
"twelve times in his plays: four times in ""The Tempest"", albeit all in one dialogue, twice in ""Titus Andronicus"", and also in ""Henry VI Part 2"", ""Antony and Cleopatra"", ""Hamlet"", ""Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream,"" and most famously in ""The Merchant of Venice"", in Lorenzo's and Jessica's mutual wooing: In 1794 Germany, Charlotte von Stein wrote her own drama named ""Dido"", with an autobiographical element - as von Stein had been forsaken by her own lover, the famous Goethe, in a manner which she found reminiscent of Aeneas. Even today, Dido appears in Sid Meier's strategy games ""Civilization"
"London's prominent book-selling quarter by Richard Bonian. As she encourages women to have confidence in themselves in her poetry, Emilia was different from other passive women. Shakespeare might have grown on her because of her original boldness, her occupation as a musician, and her origin being from Italy. The characters’ names of Shakespeare’s plays can also prove that Emilia Lanier was the Dark Lady. In ""The Merchant of Venice"", there is a protagonist named Bassanio, which sounds like Bassano, falling in love with a beautiful woman. Moreover, in ""The Spanish Tragedy"", the pre-Shakespearean play, the names of three sons of"
"Yasser (play) Yasser is a play by Moroccan-born Dutch novelist, playwright and journalist Abdelkader Benali. It was written in 2001, and describes the challenges and adversities faced by a Palestinian actor in playing the role of Shylock in Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"". The play takes place in the dressing room of a provincial theatre in a European country, where character Yasser Mansour is getting ready to go and perform the role of Shylock in Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"". While preparing for this role, he elaborates on his past in Palestine, his discrimination and the prejudices he faces as"
"play from Henslowe. Shakespeare receives helpful advice on his play from rival playwright Christopher ""Kit"" Marlowe, but becomes despondent when he learns Rosaline is sleeping with Edmund Tilney, the powerful Master of the Revels. Henslowe, who is in debt to the ruthless moneylender Fennyman and in desperate need for a new play, begins auditions anyway. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as a man named Thomas Kent to audition. ""He"" gains Shakespeare's interest when he auditions with a speech from Two Gentlemen of Verona after a series of"
"English drama include the Jewish moneylender Shylock in William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" (1598) and the title character of Ben Jonson's ""Volpone"" (1606). In Aubrey Beardsley's title page for the latter, Volpone is shown worshiping his possessions, in illustration of the lines from the play, ""Dear Saint, / Riches, the dumb god that giv'st all men tongues."" A similar scene takes place in the second act of Alexander Pushkin's short tragedy ""Skupoi rytsar"" (1836). This concerns a son, Albert, kept short of funds by his father, the Baron. Under the title The Miserly Knight, it was made an opera"
"panel above."" In Shakespeare's """"Merchant of Venice"","" considered to be one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, the villain Shylock was a Jewish moneylender. By the end of the play he is mocked on the streets after his daughter elopes with a Christian. Shylock, then, compulsorily converts to Christianity as a part of a deal gone wrong. This has raised profound implications regarding Shakespeare and antisemitism. During the Middle Ages, the story of Jephonias, the Jew who tried to overturn Mary's funeral bier, changed from his converting to Christianity into his simply having his hands cut off by"
"a wife and fifteen children. Some scholars believe that Lok's name was the inspiration of the name of Shylock, the moneylender from Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" (c. 1596–99). The prefix ""shy""- indicated ""disreputable"" or ""untrustworthy"", as in ""shyster."" This claim is particularly popular among ""Oxfordians"" who claim that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was the real author of the plays, as de Vere lost 3,000 pounds invested with Lok; in the play, the amount borrowed from Shylock is 3,000 ducats. Michael Lok Michael Lok, also Michael Locke, (c.1532 – c.1621) was an English merchant and traveller, and"
"a fellow merchant money. The merchant’s ships sink, yet despite this loss, Shylock demands his money back. His defiant nature supposedly stems from a desire to avenge the unfair treatment of his Jewish people by Christians. Shylock is ultimately humiliated by the Christian court, his daughter disobeys him and marries out of race, and he is swindled out of his bond and forced to convert. At the time it was written, in 16th-century Venice, Jewish citizens were locked in the ghetto at nighttime and were forced to wear identifying hats during the day. Actor Jon Davies asserts that Shakespeare intended"
"and Stephano were two characters used to show how wrong human beings are. Unlike Antonio, which was featured in no less than four plays, the name Stephano only appears in one of Shakespeare's other plays, ""The Merchant of Venice"". Stephano (The Tempest) Stephano ( ) is a boisterous and often drunk butler of King Alonso in William Shakespeare's play, ""The Tempest"". He, Trinculo and Caliban plot against Prospero, the ruler of the island on which the play is set and the former Duke of Milan in Shakespeare's fictional universe. In the play, he wants to take over the island and"
"anti-Semitism. However, also like Shylock, he occasionally shows evidence of humanity (albeit very rarely). It has been suggested that ""The Jew of Malta"" influenced Shakespeare's play, ""The Merchant of Venice"". Despite the fact that Shakespeare probably never met a Jew, ""The Merchant of Venice"" includes a character named Shylock who has become the archetype of the Jewish moneylender stereotype. Derek Cohen asserts that the Shylock character is ""the best known Jew in English."" Shylock is a money-lender and was often portrayed with a hooked nose and bright red wigs. Shylock's character has been criticized for its anti-Semitic nature, although some"
"both ""The Merchant of Venice"" and ""The Jew of Malta"" are works obsessed with the economics of their day, stemming from anxiety around new business practices in the theater, including the bonding of actors to companies. Such bonds would require actors to pay a hefty fee if they performed with other troupes or were otherwise unable to perform. In this way, greed becomes an allegory rather than a characteristic or stereotype. Others believe that the suggestion of imitation by Shakespeare of Marlow is overblown, and that not only the two stories are very different, but the principal characters that are"
"Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In these problem plays, the situation faced by the protagonist is put forward by the author as a representative instance of a contemporary social problem. The term can refer to the subject matter of the play, or to a classification ""problem"" with the plays themselves. Some critics include other plays, most commonly ""The Winter's Tale"", ""Timon of Athens"", and ""The Merchant of Venice"". The term has been variously applied to other odd plays from different points in Shakespeare's career, as the notion of a problem-play has always been somewhat vaguely defined and is not accepted by"
"ensued between Scheffauer (who had the full backing of The Society of Authors) and the Jewish theatrical producer Philip Michael Faraday who attempted to censor some of the text. It was then transferred to London in 1914–15 under the changed title ""The Bargain"". In 1915 it was performed at the Hague and in Amsterdam by the great Dutch actor Louis Bouwmeester (1842–1925) who was well known for his Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In January 1915 it was reported in the London theatrical press that Princess Alexandra Kropotkin had undertaken the adaption of the play to the"
"duo, the simple and constantly exploited Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The full title of the play is ""Twelfth Night, or What You Will"". Subtitles for plays were fashionable in the Elizabethan era, and though some editors place ""The Merchant of Venice""'s alternative title, ""The Jew of Venice"", as a subtitle, this is the only Shakespearean play to bear one when first published. The play was probably finished between 1600 and 1601, a period suggested by the play's referencing of events which happened during that time. A law student, John Manningham, who was studying in the Middle Temple in London, described the"
"Merchant of Venice"" to New York in 1921. Soon afterwards, Marlowe's health was failing, and she retired in 1924, although she lived until 1950. In 1925, Sothern played Edmund de Verron in ""Accused"", and in 1926, he played Tiburtius in ""What Never Dies"". In 1928, he began to lecture about Shakespeare on successful speaking tours, continuing on the lecture circuit until his death in 1933. He and Marlowe had homes in Luxor, Egypt and Lausanne, Switzerland. Sothern died in New York City at the Plaza Hotel, of pneumonia, in 1933 at the age of 73 and was cremated. E. H."
"wrote ""Wesker’s point comes across clearly: that anti-Jewish prejudice is ingrained in English life."" John Gross, another critic, stated that ""As a humanistic sermon, ""The Merchant"" has much to recommend it. As a play, it lacks bite"". ""Shylock"", a play by Mark Leiren-Young. The Merchant (play) The Merchant is a 1976 play in two acts by the English dramatist Arnold Wesker. It is based on William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"", and focus on the Jewish Shylock character, that play's principal antagonist. Wesker began writing the play after seeing a 1973 performance by Laurence Olivier. It premiered in Stockholm in"
"Wessex threatens to kill him. Shakespeare sneaks into Viola's garden, finding her on her balcony, where they briefly confess their mutual attraction to each other before he is discovered by her nurse and flees. Inspired by Viola, Shakespeare writes quickly, completely transforming the play into what will become ""Romeo and Juliet"". Rehearsals begin, with ""Thomas Kent"" as Romeo, the leading tragedian Ned Alleyn as Mercutio and the stagestruck Fennyman given a small role as the Apothocary. Shakespeare soon discovers Viola's true identity, and they begin a secret affair. Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage"
"of the autobiography of Alexander Granach, a noted Jewish stage and film actor in Weimar Germany (and later in Hollywood and on Broadway). St. John Ervine's play ""The Lady of Belmont"" (1924) is a sequel to ""The Merchant of Venice"" where the characters meet again some years later. All of the marriages that ended ""The Merchant of Venice"" are unhappy, Antonio is an obsessive bore reminiscing about his escape from death, but Shylock, freed from religious prejudice, is richer than before and a close friend and ""confidante"" of the Doge. Arnold Wesker's play ""The Merchant"" (1976) is a reimagening of"
"and happiness. For the Jessica–Shylock relationship, John Drakakis, the editor of The Arden Shakespeare's third series edition, highlights the verbal connection between ""The Merchant of Venice"" and ""The Jew of Malta"" with Barabas's words when Abigail rescues his gold and Shylock's at Jessica's theft of his Ducats. Another version of the play's plot can be found in Anthony Munday's ""Zelauto: The Fountain of Fame Erected in an Orchard of Amorous Adventures"" (1580). In this version it is Munday's Jessica analogue, Brisana, who pleads the case first in the courtroom scene, followed by Cornelia, the Portia analogue. But the Jessica–Lorenzo plot"
"Petruchio Petruchio (an anglicisation of the Italian name Petruccio; ) is the male protagonist in Shakespeare's ""The Taming of the Shrew"" (c. 1590–1594). Petruchio is a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed young woman named Kate and then proceeds to ""tame"" her temperamental spirit. The role has attracted notable performers. In the play, Petruchio comes to the town of Padua in the hopes of marrying a wealthy woman. Hortensio suggests that he marry Kate Minola, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the city, particularly because Hortensio can not court her sister Bianca until"